Awareness of Finality
by huxley
Summary: When Jim Brass realized in the corner of his eyes a gun pointed at them it was already too late. Sara was down on the ground, her face half covered with dust from the fall. Then he fell down hit from the impact of the bullets.
1. CHAPTER ONE

**Disclaimer: **Still not mine, though I'm working on it. 

**A/N:** Beta-ed by LibraryLady61. I couldn't have done it without you.

**Summary:** He couldn't remember how he got here. It was stiflingly hot and his head hurt. When his blurry vision unravelled, he realized that he was staring at the barrel of a gun. W-C and G-S hints

**Rating:** PG

**Spoilers:** Come on, you know them probably better than I do.

* * *

CHAPTER ONE 

"Grissom! Why did you go on processing the evidence without me? I thought we had an agreement that I get the lead on that case." Sara stormed in and slammed the door shut.

"Hello, to you too, Miss Sidle." Gil Grissom answered frowning at his agitated co-worker, watching her struggling to get in her blue lab coat.

"Actually I didn't process, I was just looking." Said it friendly and helped her putting on the coat. Sara flinched slightly when his warm fingers accidentally stroked her neck while folding down the collar.

Impatiently she stepped away and glanced at him, her brown eyes still dark in anger. "Gris, if you don't let me get experiences on this case, I simply cannot improve my knowledge. Why do I just have the impression that you already know what I still have to find out?"

Grissom made his innocent non-expressive face and gave way to the pin board where Sara had pinned down different stages of pupae to visualize the timeline at the death scene, beginning with featureless rounded larval stage to emerged adult insects.

"Sara, you did a good job here! I just made up my conclusion based on your work, and so will you. Take a gander at the maggot we collected from the crime scene. I placed under the microscope for you, well… you'll see."

Taking a close look at the piece of evidence and comparing it to the board, her face lightened up. "Yes!" Exited she flipped through her notes. "When we put scene observation and weather data into context…" She murmured. "The alibi is busted. The guy lied!" Sara exclaimed victoriously. "Timeline nails suspect and vic together at the crime scene. I did it. Case breaker!" she cheered.

Her cheeks were blushed in fever of excitement. Grissom winked and smiled at her, glad to see her mood change.

"Gris, um, sorry for blowing up at you. It was… well _you_ are the artist when it comes to interpretation of timelines in bug life, and I…" She made the unforgivable mistake to meet the gaze of his blue eyes and lost her thought. For a beat he was lost too in her glance, then put down his glasses, watched them intensely, pulled out a tissue and started wiping away non-present smudges to avert her gaze.

"This is not about art, Sara. Investigation of evidence is simply about deduction." He answered relieved to find a way back into his mentor mode. "Also remember, there is no 'I' _ever_ in breaking a case, it's always a team effort. Hence the difference, Sara, we are scientists first. Art is I, science is we."

"Huh?"

"Claude Bernard." Grissom explained.

"Yeah, whatever!" Sara shrugged. "I'll find Brass to get the perp arrested." And was gone.

Grissom stood, turned around to feed his pet spider and every how so often asked himself what he had done or said wrong this time.

* * *

Warrick woke up. The bright light stung his eyes. A weird taste of copper was on his dry tongue. He was so darn thirsty. It was stiflingly hot and his head hurt badly. He rubbed his eyes and massaged his temples. He couldn't remember how he got here. That wasn't his car and he certainly did not recall the woman sitting on the passenger seat besides him. She seemed still asleep, her head rested against the car window. When his blurry vision unravelled, he realized that he was staring at the barrel of a gun.

* * *

"Gil. Got a minute?" Catherine caught up with him while he was crossing the hall way. 

"Sure, go ahead. I was about to grab a cup of coffee, want one too?" He poured himself a mug full of Greg's favourite flavour.

"Nope, thanks. Probably need something more high octane."

"Cath, you know that we have a general rule against consumption of alcoholic beverages in the lab." Catherine gave him a glare.

"Gil, don't patronize me. Rule against…my ass."

"Would you please let me finish?" Grissom continued with a hint of a smile. "Let's return to my office. I keep a bottle of Bourbon for special occasions and you certainly look like you could use a shot."

To her surprise he linked his arm with hers and drew her back to his office.

"So, tell me. What's bothering you, the case?" He asked while offering her a glass of amber liquid. Catherine sipped at it, grimaced then knocked back the drink all at once.

"I'm missing Warrick." She said simply.

"Uh, Cath, sorry. I'm not sure that I understand. Look, if, um, if this is, um, concerns some private issue you might want to talk to anybody else but me." He answered beseechingly. "You know, I'm not good at that stuff. Anyway I don't think it would be a good idea if you and Warrick, I mean you being his supervisor…"

"Gris, please!" Catherine cut him off with a sudden gesture. "I would rather prefer consulting Brass about affairs of the heart before I would consider you as appropriate counterpart to discuss this issue." She scoffed. He cocked his head, but restrained himself from answering, admitting that she was darn right.

"Something wrong again with your hearing, Gil? Just read my lips. Warrick has gone missing. He took last weekend off for a trip to the Grand Canyon. Had some Colin Fletcher thing going, I guess. You know, hiking in the desert, walking though time, that stuff. Jim planted that in his mind. He hasn't clocked in yet, so I called him on his mobile and at home. Zip. Hence I had Nick drive by. He reported that his car wasn't in the parking lot either. My guts are telling me that something isn't right here."

Even stating the fact that Grissom wasn't a people person he realized that Catherine was just pretending the coolness. He discovered that she was more affected by her own statement than she wanted it to look like. She looked rather shaken up. Cath turned around and enlarged the distance between them, knowing too well how uncomfortable Grissom already felt, when personal issues are involved. And she was not sure to maintain her emotional level.

Grissom looked at Catherine in surprise. He shook his head in sudden awareness. _She fell in love with Warrick? Oh, my. How can you let that happen? Cath, it will never work out. Believe me. Think of the consequences. I couldn't do it. I would never do it._ Of course he didn't say that aloud.

Instead he asked in a calm voice. "What do you want me to do? File a missing person report? You can easily do that yourself, Cath."

"I already did, Gil. I have a friend in PD who owes me. So I asked him to skip the usual 24 hour rule and put Warrick's licence no. out on a search. Arizona Highway Patrol found his car abandoned. What I would like to ask you is rather more delicate. Please, Gil, could you also start searching for him? I would do it myself, but Nick and I are stuck in a case with twisted evidence and tomorrow we have a court day, so we just can't do it and I simply don't know whom else to ask. Ecklie?" She was looking desperate now, her eyes pleading for support.

"Cath, please. I'm not a cop or a missing person specialist. But you are right. We are a team, well, we used to be… anyway, one of us should get involved. Sara just wrapped her case, so look, Greg and I are going to take over her backlog and you can have her, ok? And we can ask Vartan or Brass, if they could spare one of their crew. Don't worry." He gave her a short hug, "Everything will just be fine. Perhaps he…." Grissom decided to keep the rest of his thoughts for himself, involving the option that Warrick could have found some female kind of diversion and simply overslept in a stranger's bed with his mobile off.

* * *

Gil paged Brass, who had just arrested Sara's suspect. Jim was on this way back downtown when he received the message. Although Brass and Warrick never became friends, Jim felt responsible and appreciated the development Brown had made in the last years under Gil's supervision. He perfectly knew the area where Warrick was supposed to go for hiking. Being a passionate hiker himself Jim actually highly recommended this trip through its stunning and majestic landscape, with its changing colours in different daylight. Only roving though its depths would reveal its complete visual wonders to the fellow visitor. Unconsciously Jim smiled in remembrance of his last vacation in the Grand Canyon. 

Jim had a hunch that there was something out of the ordinary about Warrick having gone missing. Quickly he made his decision. He would go by himself. So he called Rory Atwater to get necessary clearance and assigned the interrogation and proceeding of the case to Vartan. He was glad, although not surprised to receive this special courtesy from his superior and his colleague. This is just what happened when a member of law enforcement seemed in distress. They took care for each other like a big family.

He turned his Taurus and headed to his townhouse to pick up some equipment, which could be useful underway. He quickly changed into shirts and a pair of jeans, grabbed his backpack, pulled some clothing out of the closet and threw it in together with his toiletries. He put on his hiking boots, got ropes and climbing gear from the garage in case he would need it and drove to the lab to meet with Grissom.

Jim found Gil in his office discussing with Sara and Catherine. They looked serious, but in Cath eyes he found more, rather anxiety.

"So what do we know?" he asked without wasting time.

Grissom and Catherine looked at him in surprise when they noticed his rather casual outfit but didn't comment on it.

Grissom showed them all on the map were the car had been found. No sign of Warrick, his gear and duffle in the trunk, his wallet and phone discovered in the glove compartment. Nothing stolen.

"Strange, isn't it?" Grissom asked. "Highway police combed the surrounding area but no trace of him."

"I have already checked his credit card account. He arrived three days ago at the visitor centre, then we have another receipt of the phantom ranch. I called the ranch, faxed a photo and they confirmed Warrick's ID." Sara consulted her notebook. "Yesterday he fuelled up in Cameron…"

"Or somebody did, using his credit card, honey." Jim remarked with a smirk. "Trying to do my job, huh? Wanna go for a change in profession? Spare me the details. What are we waiting for, Gal, let's roll."

"Uh, Brass. You going?" Sara asked quizzically turning to Grissom. "I thought I would get someone from MP squad?"

"Hey, Sara. Don't offend me. I'm more than qualified to go on missing person case." Jim said.

"No that's not… I mean, I didn't… But you and Warrick. It's not that you have been close pals."

"Oh, yeah. And you are particularly close to Warrick because…?" Jim retorted.

Grissom interrupted. "Let's not loose time! Sara, go quickly. Gear up, get your stuff. Jim's ready to leave with or without you in five minutes."

"Well," she said. "I make in three. Meet you outside, Brass. Your Taurus is useless. We take the Tahoe, I drive." Giving Catherine a thumb up sign she left.

"Year, picture that, gal!" Jim shouted after her, than looked back to Gil and Catherine.

"Anything else I should know?" he asked raising an eyebrow.

"Just bring him back safely, Jim." Catherine remarked.

"Both of them." Gil added seriously.

Catherine handed him a key. "Warrick's." She said simply. Brass raised an eyebrow and looked at her. She just nodded with a half smile and he understood, what she meant by that.

"Hey, Cath. Don't worry. We'll find him and bring him back in one piece, and alive." Jim gave her an encouraging smile. "I'm police officer for a reason. And I cannot afford to loose _any_ of you guys."


	2. CHAPTER TWO

**Disclaimer: **Still not mine, though I'm working on it. 

**A/N:** Beta-ed again by LibraryLady61. I couldn't have done it without you.

**Summary:**Warrick's in trouble. Sara and Brass follow his trail. Cath and Nick doubt the evidence of their case and call in for support. Sam Starck, a profiler helps out.

**Rating:** PG

**Spoilers:** Come on, you know them probably better than I do.

* * *

CHAPTER TWO 

"Get out of the car!" Someone shouted at him. "Move! Hands on the back of your head, buckwheat! Now." A young officer, by the look from the local County Police, pointed with a gun on Warrick. Nervously he directed Warrick to step out and to put hands against the car. A second officer, a fat sweating guy, had his back, while he holstered his weapon to cuff him up. He searched him for ID and weapons but didn't find any of it.

The young officer turned to his superior and shook his head. "Nothin', Gus."

"Well, Jimmy. Step back. And let this dork turn around. He's cuffed, and we are two against one in case, he might get the wrong idea." Sheriff Gus Ferguson said, pulling out his night stick.

"Ok, pal. Do you have a name?"

"Hey, Sheriff. What's going on here? I did nothing wrong." _At least nothing I am aware of_, Warrick mused. "Where am I?"

"Don't make me ask you twice." Gus stepped forward, pressed the stick against Warrick's throat, and forced to turn his face to look at him. Warrick glared at Gus and smelled his unpleasant odour but decided better not to comment on that. This police man was certainly a bad ass.

"Ok, my name is Warrick Brown, I'm with the Las Vegas Crime lab."

"And I believe you, because…?"

"Well, I don't know where my wallet is. Call my boss in the lab, take my fingerprints to ID, whatever!" Warrick said.

"Yeah, smart ass. You know what? Save it." Gus snorted. "You're under arrest. We take a ride in the black- and-white first. And you will have all time in the world to tell us again, who you are, what you are doing here and why this nice young lady right beside you looks pretty dead. I mean, with that shooting hole in her head and such." He added cynically.

"She is dead? I swear to god! I did nothing to that woman. I have never seen her before." Warrick was shocked.

"So do me a favour and explain what she had been doing in your car?"

"Not. My. Car. Listen, I was…" Warrick answered, suddenly everything was a blur and he collapsed.

"Whoops! Heat stroke?" Instead of catching, Gus simply stepped away and let Warrick fall hard on the ground. The rough underground caused a laceration on his temple and blood started oozing into the desert sand.

"Jimmy, get that coloured crap in the car but take care that he doesn't bleed on the seat. Go, ask for back up. Call Highway Patrol, report the incident and let them clean up the mess and recover the dead body. You stay with the scene. I'll drive the suspect back to the office."

* * *

Brass waited in front of the Tahoe when Sara arrived with her kit and a duffle with her personal items. 

"Road trip. Great!" She looked over her sun glasses and gave Jim a smirk showing her adorable gap in her teeth. "It was always my dream to do it with you. I mean, scooting." Sara added sarcastically.

"I so believe you. Thanks for that. Pleasure is mine." Jim quipped. "You are obviously in a wonderful mood today, Miss Sidle. Come on, let's hit the road and head to Warrick's place first. Cath gave me the key to his apartment."

They entered the Tahoe and Sara left the parking lot leaving skid marks on the hot tarmac.

"I was wondering, how come that Catherine has a key to Warrick's apartment?" Sara frowned.

"Sara, you're not serious." Brass laughed at her. "What do _you_ think?"

"It makes me think that…" Sara blushed slightly. "…um, that the team takes care of each other. I mean, for help or in case something like this happens." She muttered.

"Ok, let's go prove your theory." Jim answered playfully. "Do you keep a key to Sander's apartment?"

"No!" Sara called out in disgust. "I wouldn't even go there if one day it turned out to be a crime scene. His place is totally messed up. Garments thrown all over the place, I mean the dirty ones, underwear and stuff. Not to mention the expired contents in his fridge." She scoffed.

"Well, that makes me ask why did you even go there first time?" Jim continued teasing her. "No wait, I have another one. Does Grissom have a key to your place, I mean, just in case? Just to prove your theory, right?"

"James Brass! Don't go all detective on me." Sara gave him a short glare while trying to keep attention on the road and to recall the quickest way to Warrick's home.

Brass snickered. "I'm sure you would give him one right away if he'd asked. It's just that we both know that hell will freeze over first, right, Sara?"

Sara sighed in resignation. "Brass, will you please stop that. I just can't handle that right now and drive safely. Just, just stop talking, will you?"

"Sure, kid." Jim said understanding. The rest of their ride passed in silence.

* * *

The rest of the graveyard and swing shift was supposed to gather in the break room. Grissom was already waiting for them, while Greg was preparing some new coffee. 

"Grissom, you will like this one." Greg tried to be at ease with his superior. "I discovered a new brand from Chile. Comes 20 bucks the package. But it's worth every penny of it."

Greg didn't expect any answer as he realized that his boss was completely distracted.

"Boss, what are you thinking?" he asked carefully, partly afraid to hear a lament what he could have done wrong this time while collecting the evidence in the field.

"Nothing, Greg. It's just that I'm worrying about what could have happened to Warrick and how I can find a way to improve things with S… the team." Grissom quickly corrected himself.

Then Nick and Catherine entered the room and Greg turned around rather furiously. "No. Not now!" _I nearly had him,_ Greg thought. _He was again one step away from opening up to me, at least a tiny bit, _remembering his not so innocent question about what Grissom would turn on. _Something who doesn't judge me._ _I still don't have a clue what he meant by that._ Greg mused.

"What's up Greggo?" Nicky patted his shoulder. "You look like somebody emptied the coffee pot again before you had a chance to pour yourself one." He added with a meaningful side glance to Grissom.

"Cath, Nick thanks for joining us. You all know well why we are now two persons short. And while Sara and Brass try to find Warrick we need to unite and work as one team. I already cleared that issue with Ecklie. He assigned the lead to me for the time being, if you are ok with it, Cath." She nodded in quiet acceptance.

"So what's with the case you've wrapped a couple of weeks ago? That dead woman Cynthia Whatshername found shot in a car, suspect taken into custody at the crime scene. Tomorrow is court day and now you start doubting your interpretation of evidence?"

"Grissom, I know what you are thinking. Evidence seemed to be leading to Will Garner, the immediate suspect, found asleep behind the wheel, with that dead woman still sitting beside him. But after the interrogation my gut feeling screams, that something isn't right here. This guy is…" She stopped searching for the right words. "I'm not that sure that he's the killer. Garner has no record of violence, he never even possessed a weapon. It's just that his profile doesn't fit with the image of the cold blooded killer who takes a quick nap after shooting a random hitchhiker."

Grissom looked to Nick, well knowing that it had been him to first become suspicious with the obvious evidence probably accusing the wrong person.

"So, if we can't trust the evidence any more. What can we trust?" He asked Nick and Catherine quizzically.

"Profiling, Gris." Nick answered simply. "We first got suspicious when we found out that three other cases, three in Arizona and one in Nevada have had somehow the same signature. Female hitchhiker killed by gun shot in the right temple and always a guy picked up at the crime scene claiming that he wasn't the murderer. All were convicted and will be sentenced to death. "But, I mean," Nick blushed slightly, "what if they are innocent and someone else is responsible and used innocent guys to get busted instead of him?"

"If evidence is sometimes not enough we should want to ask a profiler to help out." Catherine explained further. "Gris, we asked Judge Anderson to adjourn the prelim, which he just granted and want to bring in Samantha Starck."

"Yeah, I remember her. Profiled the guy on the child abuse case. Cath, your case. Your rules." Grissom stated. "I do not agree with your methods, but if you want to go this round and Vega as the lead detective is ok with it, do it. And by the way, I have learned that gut feeling from time to time seems an appropriate method to analyse a case." He answered with a hint of a smirk and winked at Nick.

A knock on the door interrupted them. "Hi, I'm Sam Starck. I was requested on review for a suspect's profile." The blonde introduced herself and looked expectantly at Grissom, whom she had immediately identified as the group leader.

Grissom shifted uncomfortably. He didn't like profilers and their approach to work. _That's no scientific approach. Always wanted to talk and learn about the people they are working with. They always want to invade everybody's privacy, find out about one's thoughts and feelings. I don't like being examined. I don't like the level of intimacy which profilers are used to creating in their environment. Fortunately I don't have to work together with her. It's Catherine's issue and she likes to share feelings anyway, if one like it or not._

When it was obvious that Grissom wasn't going to answer Sam, it was Nicky who jumped in to break the awkward silence and introduced the others to her. They immediately agreed on first name basis and started talking about the case, leaving Greg and Grissom to themselves.

While Cath and Nick explained the case and their doubts to her, Sam focussed each member of the team with her intense green eyes as if reading their minds, her eyes lingering on Grissom for a moment, who stood with his back to her, while pouring some coffee.

"Does he talk?" she ask Nick.

"Well, occasionally he does." Nicky chuckled.

She nodded. "Fair enough. Anyway, back to the case. We'll find out if Garner is innocent and if there could be something hidden behind the obvious. You know, sometimes evidence is not enough." She repeated Catherine's words from before. Nicky agreed with a side glance to Grissom remembering the discussion about taking a certain 'people factor' into account.

"Greg. Finish with your coffee and let's go, we have a DB in the desert." Grissom stopped, while reading the note and reluctantly continued. "Female victim, gun shot wound. Right temple. Found in a car. And the suspect was captured on scene, trying to escape." He looked at the others in surprise. "Strange isn't it?" and then he turned to Sam and demanded a bit bluntly "Call me as soon as you have the profile ready."

Sam frowned and looked at Catherine who simply shrugged and mouthed "That's him in a good mood." So Sam decided not to argue with the supervisor and shook her head in silent agreement, when Grissom left the room followed by an eager Greg.


	3. CHAPTER THREE

**Disclaimer: **Still not mine, though I'm working on it. 

**A/N:** Beta-ed again by LibraryLady61. I couldn't have done it without you.

**Summary:** Sara and Brass follow Warrick's trace while Grissom and Greg investigate a murder where evidence seem to lead in the wrong direction.

**Rating:** PG

**Spoilers:** Come on, you know them probably better than I do.

* * *

CHAPTER THREE 

Back at Warrick's apartment Brass and Sara didn't find much more clues except some maps and travel guides. Brass also found the book from Colin Fletcher which he had loaned Warrick.

"At least we can guess which roads he must have taken. Looks like he wanted to take a ride through Monument Valley afterwards, then drive up to Page probably for water-skiing. It's a very nice trip. Did it already twice myself." Brass stated.

"What is this thing you guys have with the Grand Canyon anyway? It's not that either Warrick or yourself look like nature people." Sara wanted to know. Brass cocked his head refraining from answering.

"Come on Sar. Let's ride. We start with the place where his car has been found and work our way backwards." Brass simply left and went back to the Tahoe and climbed into the passenger seat waiting for Sara to lock the front door of Warrick's apartment.

When they entered the southeast bound highway he tried to explain to her how he felt the connection between man and nature.

"It's ironic, isn't it? We live surrounded by desert, yet all amenities present. Water, energy, everything taken away from mother nature, without giving it a second thought. And still humans are drawn back to nature, to its purity." He got excited. "You know, you have to do the Grand Canyon some time. As a geological feature the canyon is still very young, but for human beings its been like there forever. You know, all the layers that lends through time are visible here and that's what makes it so fascinating for me."

"Brass, stop it. You sound like a tourist guide!" Sara laughed. "Didn't actually realize that you are so into it. You should take me sometime. I mean, on a hike." She added slyly.

Jim side glanced at her, not that sure how to handle Sara teasing him that way. He always considered himself immune against her charm, he was just the guardian looking out for her when nobody else did. Nothing more. But still, she was striking a chord inside him which he thought he'd lost long time ago. Something which made his heartbeat faster, when she smiled her special Sidle smile. Something which made him feel human, or coming to the point, actually made him feel like a man. _Stop, old fart, you're losing it. Anyway, Grissom is the man she obviously wants more than anybody else. I mean, look at Nick. He's a hunk of a guy and couldn't get a hit on her. And even not taking the age difference into consideration, compared to me, well, everybody looks better than me, anyway. No even a slight chance here. _

"Sara." Jim let out a deep sigh. "I certainly didn't want to bore you." He tried not to sound too piqued.

She looked at him surprised and slightly confused about him changing his mood. "Sorry, Jim. Certainly no offence meant here."

They didn't speak for a while.

"Turn on the radio, will you?" Brass asked in the awkward silence pulling back his thoughts to safer ground.

"How about some jazz?" she asked.

"Sounds good. You mind if I take a quick nap while you're driving?" Brass asked.

"Well, if you trust me that much." Sara said. "Sure."

* * *

"That's an easy one." The officer told Grissom when they arrived at the crime scene. "We already got that son of a bitch." 

Grissom figured that Highway patrol didn't even bother to tape up the scene because everything seemed obvious. All evidence which could have lead to other conclusions, like skid marks, foot prints in the desert sand, fibres, hairs not belonging to victim or possible suspect would be contaminated. Grissom cursed and shouted "Stop spoiling my crime scene, guys. Just step away, tape it up."

The lead officer whistled at his colleagues. "Hey, dudes. Nerd squad on site. Be nice, do what the boss says."

Greg and Grissom pulled on some latex gloves and started processing the scene. The black Toyota SUV with Arizona licence plate had stood in the sun for hours. Emanating waves of heat, flared the air.

"Grissom, can we do this quickly?" Greg asked. "I mean, look it's darn hot…"

Gil interrupted. "Greg, we need to do this even more thoroughly. Sometimes it's more than meets the eye and from what we have learned today there might be an unknown factor leading to something else. So go, process the interior of the car!"

"I knew it." Greg murmured in slight protest but started collecting dirt, hairs and fibres from inside the car and bagged it, while Grissom took a closer look at the female body.

"She's young, a twenty something, her knapsack on the back seat, probably hitchhiking. Close shot in the right temple, GSR in the entrance wound. Any ID?"

"Paula Drake." Greg answered, flipping though her belongings, then continuing to take pictures of everything that Grissom pointed at.

"Hi, Grissom." Somebody called from behind.

"Hi, David. Get her out of here. We are done." Grissom answered and helped the coroner to put her on the gurney. "Call me when you having her prepared for further processing."

"Where's the suspect?" Grissom asked the waiting chief officer.

"Already in custody at LVPD." He said.

"Greg, let's go for a walk." Grissom ordered. "I wanna have a closer look at the area."

"What are we looking for?" Greg wanted to know.

"Hidden evidence, Greg. Signs of a second car on scene perhaps. Tire profiles not contaminated by these dorks." Gil nodded to certain officers.

So they started circling the car, round after round enhancing the distance, eyes on the ground, flash lights wandering in arches, despite the fact they still had full daylight.

A hot breeze started twirling the dust.

"Damn." Grissom cursed, pushing his ball cap in the neck, wiping sweat from his forehead. His eyes started hurting from the sun rays reflected by the desert sand.

"Gris, found something, I guess." Greg shouted over pointing on some immaculate tire prints on the opposite side of the road.

_Just in time._ Gil thought. _Before we both get a heat stroke._ He watched Greg who wasn't wearing his base cap and already got a serious sun burn on his face and neck.

Grissom pulled out a cloth from his kit, took a bottle of water, made it wet and handed it to Greg.

Greg looked at him, question marks in his eyes. "Huh?"

"Just to stay cool in the matter of speaking, Greg. Pull the cloth around your head." Gil made a gesture. "You know like pirates are wearing it and do drink some water." He handed him the bottle. "Make sure next time you're working in the desert you have appropriate protection, sun blocker and enough water with you."

"Yes, sir!" Greg saluted, gladly taking the refreshment and rather surprised that his supervisor really seemed to care for him.

Than Greg explained what he had found. "I'll go make a mould of the tire prints and swab the black drops from over there. It's probably motor oil."

"Not too bad, Greg." Grissom said satisfied with Greg's processing. "Make it so. It's all we've got. Than let's head back to the lab. The suspect has already been brought in for questioning."

* * *

In the break room Catherine, Nick and Sam were going through the interrogation transcripts analysing it against what pure evidence had told them. In the meantime Detective Vega had joined them bringing some additional files on the other similar cases.

"Evidence is nailing suspect and crime scene together. In every case." Nick said. "But look at the transcripts. They all claim innocence. Talked about some guy with a breakdown or flat tire who they wanted to help. Then – blackout – and waking up in the stranger's car sitting next to a dead girl."

"This is definitely some kind of a signature." Catherine said.

"We, I mean PD, didn't even bother to cross-check the car ownership. Every time officers arrested the person on scene, CSIs found enough blood and fibre evidence connecting him with to vic and slam-dunked the case." Vega admitted. "I mean perps always claim their innocence. Nothing new here. We didn't really listen to that crap." Vega shrugged. "Well, finally, I have cross-checked ownership and licence plates. If this mystery guy really exists, he seem to travel between Arizona and Nevada with the cars acquired on his crime scenes after he had arranged it properly. So Mystery Man kills a girl after picking her up hitchhiking. Than, smart idea, why not let someone else go down instead of him."

"Dammit! PD and CSI will be so screwed if this turns out to be true." Catherine cursed. "I'm not going to take the blame for it."

"Cath, calm down. We don't know anything yet. And we are obliged to find the truth, even if we have to put ourselves on the line." Nick said.

"Oh, Please Stokes. Don't go Grissom on me." She scoffed.

Nick frowned at her but continued talking. "Somehow Mystery Man's M.O. is faking a car breakdown, waiting for help, knock off – maybe drug – the helper, placing him in his car, probably pulling the dead girl out of the trunk placing her on the passenger seat and just drive away, leaving it for the carnivores or highway patrol. Whatever comes first. What are we supposed to do now?" He looked expectantly at the blonde profiler.

"We need to interview the men convicted for theses murders." Sam looked at Vega. "Now! It may well be that we have put the wrong guys behind bars this time."

"I have already set up the interviews. For the Arizona guys we can do it via video conference, the Nevada perp is already at the station waiting for us." Vega told Sam. "Let's go find out about our Mystery Man." They left for the interrogation room.

Catherine and Nick stared at each other. "We are so screwed, Nicky."

"I don't think so. Look, we find out what really happened and nail the guy who did it." Nick touched her shoulder.

"I wish Warrick was here. Um, no offence meant, Nicky. But we could need another hand on the case, don't you think?"

"Yeah." Nick answered grimly. "You're going to tell me that we are pulling a double or triple, right?"

"You got that right." Catherine sighed.

* * *

Warrick awoke feeling sore. He found himself lying on a hard bench in a small dark cell. At least it was cooler in here. He stumbled over to the wash basin and refreshed himself a bit, washing away the blood from his face. The bleeding had stopped and somebody must have put a band aid over it. 

"Hey, somebody?" He shouted.

Gus, the fat police officer, came over, hitting his nightstick against the bars. "Shut up, pal. So you're finally ready to talk?"

"Yes." Warrick said. "Did you call my supervisor? She will confirm who I am."

"She? Come on don't gimme that crap. You work for a woman? Is this why you had to kill an innocent girl? Do I smell motive?"

"Sir." Warrick tried to calm himself down. "Please listen. I'm innocent. There was that guy. He had a flat tire. I was helpful, even loaned him my tools. Then I felt something stinging me, I got dizzy and everything went black. Felt like a bug bite. Next thing I remember is that I was waking up in that car with an officer pointing a gun in my face and a dead girl beside me."

"That's a nice song you're singing, my friend. And I don't believe a word of it. I rather prefer you to stay put, I mean, not that you are going anywhere." Gus said.

"Dammit. What else can I do?" Warrick hit the bars in pure frustration.

"How about a confession?" Gus asked, turned around and left him alone.


	4. CHAPTER FOUR

**Disclaimer: **Still not mine, though I'm working on it. 

**A/N:** Beta-ed again by LibraryLady61. I couldn't have done it without you.

**Summary:** The team is trying to connect the dots in the case, in the meantime the killer has picked his latest victim.

**Rating:** PG

**Spoilers:** Come on, you know them probably better than I do.

* * *

CHAPTER FOUR 

Grissom returned from the morgue, rather disappointed. The bullet retrieved from this victim wasn't a match to the other cases. Even worse, none of the bullets from any of the crime scenes matched up.

Greg had already processed the belongings of the possible suspect Mike Mander and found blood evidence on his clothing and also gun shot residue. He certainly had pulled the trigger of the murder weapon at some point. All probative facts. But taking the similar cases into consideration he was not longer sure about the results of his examination.

The team got Grissom's page to meet again to exchange their findings and update the facts. Catherine reported about the similarities and what they thought to be possible M.O., and they started comparing the actual case with the signature of the others.

Grissom nodded. "Seemed that we've overlooked certain aspects. Why didn't we even consider cross-checking M.O.s and other cases? What's a database good for, when we don't use it."

"Well, Gris. There were several teams of officers and CSIs involved, not even to mention that we have cases from at least two states." Nick stated. "But this is certainly something which we should consider for the future. Every case teaches us something about the next, right?"

"Yeah, Nicky." Gil nodded and looked up when Sam Starck and Detective Vega arrived.

"We just finished with the interviews of the convicts." Sam explained pouring herself a coffee.

Greg opened his mouth to protest, because it was his favourite brand this woman was going to drink. Sam noticed and went over to him whispering something in his ear, inaudible for the others. Greg leaned back and smiled pleasantly.

Grissom furrowed his brow. This blonde was hopefully not going to blow up his team, he thought, watching that dopey look of Nicky's eyes and Greg obviously falling into some worship like attitude. Even Vega seemed to be quite intrigued by the presence of this woman, when he reported the interrogation results. The only people immune seemed Catherine and himself, Gil mused.

Sam started recapitulating. "From the description we know, that Mystery Man is well-groomed, Caucasian male, thirty to forty years old, sometimes with beard, moustache or without facial hair. Probably even wearing wigs to hide his hair. Friendly character, soft voice, polite."

"Well, that would probably make up to forty percent of all north Americans viable suspects, Miss Starck." Grissom said sarcastically. "Any chance to narrow that down?"

"Thirty seven percent to be exact. Sir, may I have a word in private?" She looked at Gil seriously. The other felt the tension rising between them and tried to ignore it.

"Sure." He stood up and asked her to follow her in her office.

Sam closed the door behind her slightly louder than she intended to. "What's the matter with you, Dr Grissom?" She asked formally. "Either you ignore me or you go sarcastic on me. If I call you on your cell, you don't answer. You know what? I'm fed up with it. If you don't want me do my job why don't you just take me off the case?" She really got steamed up, her green eyes glared at him.

Grissom watched her without any expression. As always when he was confronted with emotional outburst he had problems to deal with it. So he tried to explain it his way. "Look, Miss Starck, um Sam, this isn't actually my case, it's Catherine Willow's. It hasn't been my decision to bring you in so I'm not the one in charge to put you off the case."

"Well, thanks for that." Sam scoffed. "You have a way to put someone at ease." The look in her eyes still furious. Sam gathered herself, reminding her of the task on hand. _You're here for a reason, _she thought.

She took a deep sigh and said "Look, Gil. It is not about you or me or anyone in the team. Why can't we simply have a truce and work the case while it's hot?" She paused suddenly realizing his deviant behaviour. "You are afraid of me. Come on, Gil. I'm not going to profile and analyse you. Really, too much work." Sam added with a smirk.

Grissom cocked his head slightly. "It's that obvious, huh? Sorry, it's just that I…um…well… let's… call it a truce." He stammered. _I'm simply as nervous around Sam as I am around Sara. What are these women doing to me? Reading my mind?_ Gil thought, mad at himself.

He simply took her arm and said, "Come on let's return to the others. They might already think…"

"What?" Sam wanted to know.

"Um, nothing." Gil shrugged and felt a slight feeling of embarrassment rising.

* * *

"Hey, Brass. Wake up!" Sara gently touched his shoulder. Jim startled and smiled apologizing. 

"Sorry, wasn't much of an entertainer, I guess." He said contritely.

"Well, you were snoring form time to time, I mean, when you weren't talking in your sleep." Sara grinned.

"I… Did… Not… I mean I don't talk while I'm sleeping." Brass prompted.

"How would you know?" Sara asked quizzically. "You keep a tape recorder in your bedroom? Or no wait. Somebody there to tell the contrary?"

"Sara, let's just not go there. You know that I do live alone, so there's actually no witness of… oh, now you got me." Jim laughed and nudged her playfully. "So what did I say?" He asked a bit timid.

"Nothing in particular." Sara answered with an enigmatic smile.

"Right, you are going to leave me out in the rain now." Jim said.

"Yeah, probably leaving you actually in the desert if you wanna mind to take a look around. I guess that will bother you all day." She snickered. "Come on, we have to have a look at Warrick's car."

They stepped out at the Arizona highway patrol station, reported to the officer on duty and headed to the garage where Warrick's car had been towed in. When Sara and Brass took a closer look at the interior she mused. "Hm, the wallet was left open, but nothing had been taken out except one credit card. Take a gander at the badge. It seemed that somebody threw it on the floor and stomped on it in some rage. Weird. I'll bag it and let it send back to the lab perhaps trace can find something viable."

"Car is covered in red dust and with some remainders of mud on the tire profile." Brass stated. As far as I'm informed it rained further down south yesterday. So I guess we have to follow the road down to Cameron and find out who was paying at the gas station."

Sara gave the evidence they collected to the officer and asked him to dispatch it immediately to Las Vegas Crime Lab. He nodded and confirmed to have it delivered within a few hours. Sara thanked him and returned to Brass.

"Yeah, Jim. Let's roll. Can you drive for a while? I'm pretty tired by now." Sara asked.

"For sure I can. Thought you would never ask, tough lady." Brass said.

"Lady? Well that's a first. Nobody ever named me that." She smiled at him.

"Come on, Sara. Fishing for compliments now?" Brass got in the car and revved up the engine.

With Brass driving Sara also went immediately in a quick nap. With her asleep it was easy to watch her, to watch over her. Jim corrected himself. He stole a side glance from time to time, torturing his mind what the hell he could have said while he was sleeping.

The slender woman beside him was wearing a black tank top and black jeans, not hiding her beautiful appearance. She laid back relaxed in her seat, her brunette hair slightly messed up. Jim took the bait to strike a strand of hairs away with his right hand. His hand stopped in the middle of its gesture when suddenly his cell went off.

Startled he picked up and answered. "Um, Brass." Jim said distracted. He cleared his throat and continued in a hoarse voice. "Yeah, Gil. We are fine. And no you're not interrupting anything. What's with the question anyway? We're headed south in direction of Cameron. We'll keep you informed. Bye."

Sara woke up and stretched out uncovering a tiny bit of white skin of her waist. Brass gritted his teeth and forced himself to concentrate on the road.

"What's up?" She asked.

"Daddy called. Wanted to make sure that his girl ok, I guess." Brass said with sarcasm in his voice.

"You mean Grissom? You think so? What could happen anyway?" she shrugged.

_Everything could have happened while you were sleeping. If you would only know, Sara!_ Jim Brass thought. _You would have probably kicked my ass or worse. And_ _Gil must have grown some instinct to call me exactly in that very moment. I was going to touch you, Sara. Hell, what was I thinking anyway. No wait, I wasn't thinking at all._

A second call interrupted the turmoil in his mind. Catherine just came back with news about Warrick and Brass accelerated beyond speed limit.

* * *

Warrick woke up when the he heard a key turned in the lock. He felt better now although still a bit woozy. 

Fat cop waved him to step out of the cell. He seemed not very happy.

"I checked your ID back with your department." Gus seemed to have shrunk in the last couple of hours. "Your lady boss ripped of my balls, literally spoken. Whatta bitch. But well then, Mr Warrick Brown, you have not been cleared but I have been advised to hand you over to the arriving officer."

Warrick looked at him in disbelief. "You can't be serious. _Gus_. First you kick my ass, and now you release me as if nothing had happened? Believe me, I'm definitely going to file a report against you. The way you treat your suspects guilty or not, is inappropriate. Can I at least make my phone call now?" He added sarcastically.

Gus shrugged. "Um, yeah. Somebody is going to pick you up soon. A Sara Sidle and Captain Brass are on their way to get you."

"Fine, glad to hear that. So tell me where did patrol bring the body and the car? Which department is responsible for investigation and examination?"

"Dunno." Gus shrugged. "I bring in the suspects. That's what I do."

"Well, than it's time you find out, don't you think? I wanna know what I've been involved in and I can probably describe the real killer." Warrick scoffed disregardful. "Don't you have procedures to follow? I so can't believe it."

Then Warrick called Sara on her cell phone. "Happy to hear your voice. I was pretty worried. No, we were really concerned, Warrick." Sara said relieved. "We are with you in a couple of minutes."

"Rick is fine I guess." Brass said.

"Yeah, sounded shaken up a bit but ok." Sara answered.

When they arrived at the county police station Warrick was already waiting outside, waving at them. Sara gave him a big hug and he released her quite reluctantly.

"Missed me that much, huh?" Sara asked.

"No, yes. I mean. Yes. I was pretty awful to be treated like a suspect. I'll have to make sure that this won't happen again. This fat guy was really a pain in the ass." Warrick pointed at Gus who was briefing Brass on the whole situation.

They didn't understand everything, but Brass expressed in very drastic words to the officer that his days with law enforcement would be counted.

"He missed me too." Warrick smirked. "Didn't know that this would happen."

When Brass returned Warrick simply raised a hand, and made a fist. Brass got it, made a fist too and they punched them together playfully. "Thanks, man." Warrick said in a low voice.

And Jim smiled. "I probably owed you anyway, Rick. If not, well than you'll owe me now, right?"

* * *

"We can count on the courtesy of Arizona Law Enforcement." Grissom reported. "Due to the obvious similarities to our case they'll fly in the body and our lab will do the examination and we get the lead on the whole big case until FBI gets involved. The car in which Warrick was found will be towed in as well as Warrick's car itself. So we have a couple of hours for rest and we'll get paged as soon as the evidence arrives." 

Catherine looked pretty relieved now. She just got back from a more private call with Warrick. He had borrowed Sara's cell to tell her about the incident. It was without a doubt the same M.O. Now she handed her mobile over to Sam Starck. Warrick have her a full description of the suspect, his character and his attitude. Sam asked some further questions, made some notes and frowned. Than she handed the phone back to Cath, supposing her wanting to say good bye to Warrick. Her guess was right, because Catherine left the break room again her voice sounded rather soft at the end. Grissom caught Sam smiling, raised an eyebrow and shook his head. "Don't even think about it." He mouthed to her and Sam winked at him.

"Hey Grissom." Greg said. "I don't know if it's important but the tire tracks and the drops of motor oil might lead to some exclusive car. It's Goodyear profile and only used on high end cars, same goes for the oil, synthetic makes it high end too. May be used for one Porsche Cayenne. Nice one that is."

* * *

It wasn't over yet. 

In Arizona and Nevada four girls had been killed, four innocent people had been arrested and accused for murder, three of them already convicted based on misleading evidence. Ecklie and certain other PD directors would certainly go through the roof. Media would be all over it if this would leak out. They would have to review all the cases and go back to court.

And there was still a hit man on the loose.

* * *

The girl was pretty upset and felt weary. She had been fighting with her boyfriend the whole trip from the east coast, about money, about the fucking car, about sharing the weed. Finally he got so pissed that he just dumped her at the diner and drove away. She was broke and angry. 

She needed to sort out some serious family issues. Concerning her father. She snorted while thinking of that asshole. Not father! The man who claimed to be her father, until her mother told her the truth. Furiously she threw her backpack on the ground, creating clouds of dust.

"Hi, young lady. My name is Robert Stelter. You in trouble?" A friendly voice asked from behind. She turned around and looked into some trustworthy soft brown eyes of a man in his late thirties. "I'm headed to Vegas." He said. "Can I give you a lift?"

The girl nodded satisfied with the first impression she got from that well-groomed man, glad to have found such an easy solution for her problem.

She reached him her hand, and said. "That would be great, Mister. By the way my name is Ellie. Ellie Brass. WOW, you got yourself a nice ride!"

T.B.C.?


	5. CHAPTER FIVE

**Disclaimer: **Still not mine, though I'm working on it. 

**A/N:** Needed a fluff-break. Beta-ed again by LibraryLady61. I couldn't have done it without you.

**Summary:** Grissom figured that Sara and Greg shared a thing which he couldn't get hold of. He turned and tried to run away but Sara grabbed him at the collar of his lab coat. A little tribute to Sara and Greg.

**Rating:** PG

**Spoilers:** Come on, you know them probably better than I do.

* * *

CHAPTER FIVE 

Sara and Greg tried to pin a regional map on the wall, when Sara's part slipped out of her hands. She laughed when she noticed that Greg covered with the rest of the map.

"Will you help me out here?" Greg's voice came muffled from under the paper.

"Sara, Greg! What the…?" Grissom entered the room.

Sara giggled. "I wrapped up Greg. He is ready to be FED-EXed I guess."

Greg uncovered himself, his face beet red from embarrassment he avoided Grissom's glance.

"Can I give you a hand with that?" Gil asked her with a wink, jumping into the game.

Sara glanced at him in surprise. "Naw, I'll handle that package." And smiled at him, glad to find him in good mood.

Greg looked from Sara to Grissom and noticed well the improved chemistry going on between them. _At least they started talking to each other again and joking even when it's on my account. _But watching them exchanging flirtatious looks, as far as bug man would go with that anyway, he wished he could do that Star Trek thingy and simply beam himself away. Not that Greg felt embarrassed, he just wanted them to seize that special moment, as they didn't get too much of them. And Sara actually looked so happy.

_She's adorable. She's all woman. Beautiful, tough when needed, but also full of heart. _Greg thought. _I guess I've a serious crush on her. But not a chance with Grissom around. Or Nick. Or David. Phillips? Lab's gossiping about them having kissed once. What does he have that I haven't? Or Brass? Naw, not him, the detective is definitely not a member of the Sara Sidle fan club. But the looks he gives her? Probably just looking after her. Yeah. This must be it._

Greg simply took a couple of steps back in order to give them some privacy, when Sara said "Greggo, you're not going anywhere. Come on we've some work to do." Simply turned her back at Grissom and grabbed the map.

"We have to locate and pinpoint all events and establish the timeline of the murders. Perhaps we find out the route of our hit man and can forecast his direction." Sara explained.

Grissom nodded. "Due to the statements of the several witnesses, or falsely convicted people I should say, Sam narrowed the profile down. Male Caucasian, probably short blonde hair, brown eyes, 35 to 38 years old. Maybe working as a consultant, a freelancer, commuting between Arizona and Nevada, eventually Utah, as related crimes were only committed in these states. Although we processed all the cars we didn't find a viable finger print or DNA material, no hit in AFIS, CODIS or any other database we consulted. This guy must be clean as a whistle."

"Why not a sales agent or a craftsman?" Greg wanted to know.

"Well, due to his well-groomed appearance, wearing suits and ties Sam simply deducted craftsman. Also there were no obvious signs or remains of products or brochures and to the people's impression he just wasn't the selling kinda guy. Sam had worked together with a forensic artist on the face of our Mystery Man. Combined it with the profile she'd developed, and together with our partial evidence she had it already narrowed it down by visual comparison to 148 hits in the driver's license data base."

Sam Starck entered the room quietly while Grissom stated the facts and listened to his explanation.

"The twist is though" continued Gil, "that the hit man varies with facial hair and wigs. So still a heck of a legwork and interrogation procedure involved for Vega, Brass and the rest of PD. It will probably last days if not weeks if Sam can't narrow it down further."

"Do I hear you criticizing my work, Gil?" She asked.

Grissom turned around, startled but smirked at her "Are we touchy, Sam? I would never do that. Actually I appreciate what you have done to the case so far and it's great to have you on the team. We're certainly making progress here."

Sam and Grissom left together while Sara and Greg concentrated back on the work lying ahead of them.

They finally managed to pin the map on the wall and started flagging the crime scenes or body dump sites as they were.

"What do you think, was that?" Sara asked more to herself recalling the light chat Grissom and Sam had fallen into while leaving the room.

"Jealous, Sar? You simply don't like other woman around him, right?" Greg said.

"Greggo how dare you!" Sara pricking him with the needle of a flag.

"Ouch. Hey, you're going to kill me. Haven't had a tetanus shot in years." Greg rubbed his sore arm.

"Greg, you can't be serious. Immunization is mandatory. You can't get away from it. We are working with hazardous material all the time. You can get yourself in serious trouble here."

Greg looked ashamed. "I'm afraid of syringes." He grinned sheepishly.

"You just have to find a simple distraction while you get your shot. Come on we finish that here and then go to Doc Robbins. He always keeps a couple of tetanus shots in case one needs a quick booster shot. He did my last one. Just don't tell anybody, otherwise he might get into serious trouble."

They entered the coroner's office and found David Phillips.

"Hi, Dave." Sara smiled. "Doc Robbins around?"

"Nope, Sara." David looked up with that dopey glance of him he always had when Sara was around.

"Greg needs a tetanus booster. You know where he keeps it?"

"Sure, Sara. I can do that too, no problem." David was pleased to help her, even when it involved Greg.

Greg glared at both. "This is evil. This is conspiracy." He turned and tried to run away but Sara grabbed him at the collar of his lab coat and drew him near to her.

With a seductive voice she whispered sweet words in his ear and started caressing his neck, nibbling his ear lobe, then she pulled off his coat. With Sara just inches away, Greg simply forgot everything around him, the lab, David, even the syringe.

"Oh, Sara." He sighed, gently striking a strand of hair away from her face and taking her by her arms to draw her on to his chest. Sara welcomed him with a smile and pursed her lips. He took the nod of her head as a yes and kissed her, tasted her lips, explored her mouth. She began to loosen his belt, _ohmygawdsarawhatsgoingonhere,_ then his brain short-circuited while she unbuttoned his slacks. With his mind already gone south, he simply lost himself this very moment when…

"Ouch!" Greg shouted, shocked by the injection David gave him in his back.

Furiously he turned around, stumbling with his trousers around his ankles, nearly falling he managed to grab David by his collar. "What the fuck!" he glared at him.

David chuckled, "Sorry Greg. That wasn't personal. Doc Robbins did the same to me a couple of weeks back. I mean," he blushed "with Sara, um, doing the trick. She does a very good job in that respect." He grinned sheepishly at Sara his face beet red.

"Nice butt, Greggo!" Sara said slapping his naked back. "but you should get dressed properly now, we certainly don't wanna be caught in the act, right?" She grinned bold as brass.

"THAT's HARASSMENT!" Greg shouted half in anger half in despair, making himself decent again.

Sara looked at him, patted his shoulder, than gently kissed his cheek.

"You're a good kisser too." She winked and gave him her best Sidle Smile then said bye and thanks to David.

"Am I?" Greg looked at her calming down instantly. "You owe me, Sidle." He tipped with a finger on her chest. "Let's have dinner together. You pay."

"Any time, Greg. Any time." She chuckled. "Glad I could help." She said with a vicious smile.

"Oh, Sara. You are so mean. You are so adorable. I guess I simply love you!" Greg said quipping.

"Yeah, who doesn't." A hoarse voice commented from behind. Not more than a sigh.

Greg and Sara turned around wondering, but whoever said it, was already gone.

* * *

Catherine just returned from Phoenix where she had worked together with the Arizona colleagues from CSI. She wanted to cross-check the evidence to exclude a coincidence of circumstances. And it turned out that the signature of the older cases were a match to the crime Warrick had been involved in and the last one in Nevada. 

Nick had met with a CSI up in Salt Lake City, Utah to compare a similar crime. But the murdered girl over there had nothing to do with their current cases. It was just coincidence, which would at least narrow down the cruising radius of Mystery Man to Nevada and Arizona.

Warrick needed to have his blood tested for traces of drug or chemicals which might have knocked him out when he tried to help in the fake car break down. His doctor had found a tiny injection wound in his neck.

Also Mike Mander, the former suspect of Grissom's last case had been examined. He couldn't remember anything except after discovering the dead girl beside him, he simply panicked and ran away, when Highway Patrol arrived. He was set free to go after interrogation, but asked to stay in town in case of further questions.

"Hi, David." Warrick said to Hodges and gave him the blood samples. "Two to go, now please. I'm waiting."

Hodges looked at him. "This is actually not on my list of priorities, I've already a backlog of…"

"Hodges, spare me the details. We have a serial on the loose and he is probably escalating, killing on shorter intervals. We need the results yesterday! You understand that, right?" Warrick glared at him fiery, one hand swatting David's shoulder. The pain made him wince.

"Uh! Yes, Sir!" David Hodges hurried back to work, rubbing his sore shoulder.

Meanwhile the team gathered in the break room for update.

"The girl found near Page was first, than followed by the dump sites in Phoenix, finally ending with the cases in Clark County." Sara explained.

"Looks like he's counting upwards somehow. One in Page, two in the Phoenix area and two near Vegas, so far. I'm guessing we'll soon find a third victim." Greg said.

"Good work, you two. Also the time scale seem to say that he's escalating. Repeat business on shorter intervals and body count going up in his assigned hunting grounds. So we certainly have someone travelling, working based on contracts maybe, picking up female hitchhikers on occasion, then shooting them? Why?" Grissom asked unascertained.

The profiler answered "Gil, I'm actually surprised that you ask motive. I thought you just were interested in facts stated by evidence." She teased.

Grissom shrugged. "I listen and learn. So teach me motive, Sam."

"Mystery Man has been described has friendly, handsome, and well-groomed. I guess he picks up the girls, tries to get a hit on them, maybe even succeed with his effort. But as the coroner told us none of the girls had been raped. Some of them didn't have sex for months and one was a virgin even. So obviously he doesn't get off on sexual intercourse. My guess, he's impotent and blames the girls for his inadequacy."

Meanwhile Cath, Warrick and Nick had joined. Nick jumped to conclusion. "So he punished them."

"So it seems." Sam confirmed.

Catherine nodded and reported the results from her trip to Phoenix PD. "All the bullets were different, which made it so difficult to connect the crimes the first time. Hence our hit man has to keep a certain amount of unregistered weaponry at his disposal. Perhaps we can also add that to the killer's profile."

"Ok, but we simply can't have Brass and Vega bringing one hundred something viable suspects in for interrogation to find out if they are physically incapable of sex and keep a collection of unregistered guns. Come on." Warrick said.

"Well, that would be fun." Sara smiled. "I can do that."

"Sure, you would." Greg commented and gave her a playful nudge.

Grissom figured that Sara and Greg shared a thing which he couldn't get hold of. Certain looks, as if they were somehow closer since they worked together on his team. Sara flirted with Greg, but also mentored him professionally in the field. And no doubt that Greg worshipped Sara, which she obviously seemed to like.

_It will probably just take another couple of weeks before they would start seriously dating, I guess. _Grissom frowned. _In a couple of years Sara would take over and outrank me,_ _for sure she's already outclassing me once a while. She's a brilliant mind and her socializing with co-workers improved tremendously since she had been in counselling._ He mused. _When time has come, Sara would be ready for it! But will I be prepared to give it away? Will I be prepared to give her away?_

"Grissom? You coming?" Catherine asked. "We're going to take a break, have some dinner."

"Uh, what?" Grissom realized that the other had already left. "No, I guess I'm not that hungry. Go without me."

"Oh, oh, Gil! Cranky?. What's bugging you? Or should I say who's bugging? My guess, Sam or no, don't tell me it is still Sara!"

"Cath, don't go there. I also don't backbite on your _relationship_ with Warrick. Leave it alone." Grissom said.

"Oh, I don't mind. Honestly. What do you want to know about me and Warrick? I'll tell you everything." Catherine teased.

"Cath!" Grissom gave her a warning glare. "I rather prefer not to have the details here. Stop it."

"Then make it stop, Gil. Come on, join us, train your social skills once a while." Catherine took his hand and forced him out of his chair.

Grissom shrugged in resignation and sighed. "Ok. You win. This time!"


	6. CHAPTER SIX

**Disclaimer: **Still not mine, though I'm working on it. 

**A/N:** Beta-ed again by LibraryLady61. I couldn't have done it without you.

**Summary:** She looked at him as if not understanding what happened to her, raising a hand to stop her blood from oozing. Will Brass' nightmare come true? A little one on Brass and Sara friendship.

**Rating:** PG

**Spoilers:** Come on, you know them probably better than I do.

* * *

CHAPTER SIX 

He had this dream once a while. The age of the girl varied as they were growing older, as she was growing older, but the nightmare always ended as bad as it could get. The girl died.

Jim Brass was sitting in his office, feet on the table, laid back in his chair to relax a while. He had already interviewed and checked the alibis of several dozen of men fitting that profile Sam Starck laid out for them. Zip. He was exhausted and tired and felt some headache coming up. Jim massaged his temples und closed his eyes.

_Just a couple of minutes_, he thought before he went into slumber.

He hadn't seen or spoken to Ellie for a long while but in his dreams she visited him often. In his fantasy that father-daughter bonding was perfect, they talked, they laughed and had fun. But this vision never lasted long. While seizing the moment of love and understanding, lingering in her warm smile, a smile that Ellie never ever showed him in real life, he already felt it coming. Again. Jim shifted in his sleep, mumbling her name. In slow motion he had to witness her dying. A loud bang. Then her head jerked back and a gun shot wound appeared on her right temple. She looked at him as if not understanding what happened to her, raising a hand to stop her blood from oozing. She showed him the bloody hand, her eyes in accusation now. He held her in his arms. _It's all your fault, Jim_ she mouthed before she faded away.

Jim Brass woke up startled. That dream was more intense than every one he had before. He poured himself a glass of water, then noticed that somebody was watching him standing in the door frame. It was Sara.

He turned himself away from her. His face was wet and he didn't necessarily want to show her how upset he was. Impatiently he pulled out a tissue and wiped away cold sweat and tears with a furtive gesture.

When he felt self contained again he looked at her and asked in a coarse voice "What is it, Sidle? Bringing a news flash on the case?"

Sara closed the door behind her and came closer. She glanced at him with that brown eyes of hers but didn't say a word. Just stood in front of him, her arms crossed.

Brass was taken aback. He wasn't used to getting too much attention, especially not from Sara. Even worse that she caught him in one of his weak moments.

"Ok, what do you want?" he asked bluntly.

"Jim Brass, you can't scare me away with your bad ass cop style." Sara touched his arm gently but he pulled away and went back to his chair, plunging down exhausted, resting his face in his hand.

"That dream of yours, you've had it several times, right? Like when we were driving. Worried about Ellie, hm? Yeah, family blood is a strong bond." Sara tried to put him at ease.

"It's not that we are that close, Sara. We are not even family." The words got out before he could stop them.

"Wanna talk about it?" Sara asked, and took a seat on the table in front of him dangling her legs.

"I better not." Brass prompted with a sigh.

"It's not that I'm going anywhere." Sara smiled at him waiting for him to open up.

Jim hemmed and hawed but finally spoke. "No one knows, Sara. Well, except Warrick found out, while analysing our DNA case related a while ago. Ellie isn't my kid. My wife cheated on me, while I was too busy kicking department butts and building my career. When she got pregnant our marriage was already going south, but this partly being my fault and stuff I decided to raise Ellie as my own child. And I love her with all my heart, even knowing that she hates me back, for getting divorced and leaving her alone."

"Does Ellie know?" Sara wanted to know.

"I'm not sure. You know my ex-wife and I we agreed to hold it under cover, but when life's getting in the way … Ellie can be a real pain in the ass, she's the head butting kinda girl and well, if going gets tough, one might say things you regret later. I dunno to be honest."

"I'm so sorry, Jim." Jim closed his eyes and sighed, he had the urgent wish to freeze this very moment indulged in Sara's calm presence.

"Why don't you simply call her, Jim. Just to make sure she's alright." Sara said.

"I do not even have her cell phone number." He shrugged.

"Hell, Brass. You're a detective. You gotta find out." Sara pulled him out of his chair. "Otherwise I'm kicking your butt, my friend."

Jim gave her a short hug. "Thanks, gal. You're doing me good."

"Yeah, being in counselling for a while had obviously turned me into a kind of a good Samaritan. If I don't watch it I'm going become a shrink myself these days."

"Well, I definitely like it, um, you, what you're doing to me." Jim spluttered. "Not that I didn't like you before…um…I mean, what I'm trying to say, I have seen how well you've developed after… well, thanks." He blushed slightly.

"I'm just paying my debts here, Jim. You were looking out for me, I'm going to look out for you once a while, I guess. That's what friends do, right?"

"Yeah. Good to have you. As a friend, I mean." Jim said seriously looking at her.

Sara met the gaze of his dark eyes trying to read between the lines. More out of an impulse she put a hand on his bristly cheek and gently stroke it.

"Hey, Jim. Bet you never had a female best friend before, huh? I mean the Harry and Sally kinda stuff?" She tried a joke slightly confused by the underlying message he seemed trying to send her.

"Well, never worked for me long that way." Jim Brass said eye-ing her. "I mean something's always coming in the way, I guess. I'm not a priest. Must be my good looks, you know! Moreover I can have deep thoughts, I'm empathic, I even can talk emotions." He smirked.

"Yeah, I get the picture, Jim. You certainly have everything to please a woman, especially when you grow that scruff." Sara grinned, glad to have Jim pulled out of is dark mood.

"Glad you finally noticed." Jim retorted. They burst into laughter, releasing the stress of the past couple of hours when Grissom came in.

"Missed the punch line?" Gil asked quizzically.

"Every so often you do, Gil." Jim answered with a mischief grin on his face, reminding that precious little moment he was allowed to share with Sara Sidle.

"Gotta make a call. Get lost, guys, will you?" Brass continued with a wink to Sara asking them to leave his office.

"What was that all about?" Gil wanted to know.

"Trying to tie some loose ends, I guess. It concerned something you don't have, Grissom, personal stuff." Sara said simply, leaving Grissom dumbstruck.

* * *

Warrick got paged by Hodges. In fact, both blood samples showed traces of a strong and effective narcotic. 

"The ones you only get on prescription. So you might wanna look who has access to it." Hodges suggested.

"Yeah, we gotta immediately cross check that with our guys. Perhaps we can narrow down the search further, good job, David."

"I know, Warrick." Hodges said cocky.

"Did you also finish the analysis on the unknown particles we've found in the cars and on my badge?"

"Working on in." Hodges answered.

"Not good enough, Hodges. Move your ass back to the lab. Grissom is not going to wait any longer."

Warrick met the profiler to report the newest findings.

"Intriguing." Sam Starck said. "I'm still on that theory that we are looking for a contract consultant. If he has access to prescription drugs he might be either working for a lab or hospital. Maybe he's even a doctor himself. If so, we can narrow down the search again…" She started hitting data into the laptop and pressed enter.

The computer started processing the new data and came back with 52 hits. 17 of them were already interviewed and had been cleared. She took the printout and went to see Vega, when Hodges ran into Warrick.

"I got it." He said. "Silvery antifriction alloys composed of tin with small amounts of copper and antimony, it's Babbitt metal, also called white metal, an alloy used to provide the bearing surface in a plain bearing."

"Ok?" Warrick didn't have a clue what Hodges was talking about.

"Used most likely in engineering, mining or automotive industry." Hodges explained.

Warrick turned around without another word and paged the others.

They met in the break room where he briefed them on the material.

"There's not much automotive industry in the area, so we might wanna have a look at mining and engineering companies." Grissom said.

When Sam connected several databases and entered the parameters only seven hits came back.

"Ok, Vega." Catherine stated, "You better bring 'em in a.s.a.p. Nick, you and I are going to browse the Yellow Pages and phone some companies to find out about contracted consultants working in that specific area."

"Warrick, Sara, you're going to attend the interviews with Brass and Vega. Greg and I continue processing the other evidence we found in the cars." Grissom said. "Let's divide and conquer."

"What am I supposed to do, Gil?" Sam Starck asked.

Grissom shrugged. "Well, your job is mostly done, I guess. But keep monitoring the interrogations from the other side of the glass. Perhaps you can find out more by watching them."

"Right. Boss." She smiled. "I'll do that. Glad to be kept in the loop." Sam added with a smirk. Grissom furrowed his brow but as always he wasn't quick at repartee and so left without further comment.

* * *

Ellie's cell went off. She didn't recall the number on the display but curious as she was she picked up. 

"Brad. If it's you, I'm going to rip your balls off." She shouted without introduction.

"Hi, Ellie." A low voice answered.

"Oh!" She said weirdly confused. "Long time no call, _dad_." She said acidly accentuating the last word.

"You ok? Where are you?"

"It's not that this would be anything of your business, don't you think, mister?" Ellie prompted.

"Guess we gotta have a chat about something here?" Jim guessed.

"You think so?"

"Where can I find you?"

"I'm driving down to Vegas actually. Some nice guy picked me up. I just have to think about how I'm going to pay him back that favour." Ellie Brass said meaningful and winked at her driver who smiled back.

"You're hitchhiking? Ellie you know that I would have paid the flight to Vegas. You should have simply asked me. Listen Ellie. There is a dangerous man around, killing young and beautiful women, like you." Jim Brass really sounded concerned now. "Just a sec. Hold on, will you?" he asked and Ellie heard muffled conversation in the background.

"Beautiful, huh? Obviously my parents have given me some good genes. Not that you were much involved in that, James." Ellie hit him hard with her words.

Brass swallowed hard upon that comment but didn't let himself down. He could only imagine how she must feel with this life long betrayal.

"No matter what, Ellie. I love you and always will." Jim said. "Please just get out of that car and wait. I'll send a uniform to pick you up. I want you to be safe and sound."

"You give a damn shit about me." Ellie scoffed in despise. "Now at least I can understand why you left. You don't have anything to do with me. We are not even family. So why care at all?" She was near tears by now.

"Ellie." Jim Brass pleaded.

"Fuck you, Jerk. You asshole of a father." She cried. Then the line went dead.


	7. CHAPTER SEVEN

**Disclaimer: **Still not mine, though I'm working on it. 

**A/N:** Beta-ed again by LibraryLady61. I couldn't have done it without you.

**Summary:** He aimed a 9mm at the approaching officer and shot him right in the face without warning.

**Rating:** PG

**Spoilers:** Come on, you know them probably better than I do.

* * *

CHAPTER SEVEN 

Jim Brass called PD. "Were you able to locate the cell phone number I gave you?" He asked. "Good," He said satisfied with the answer. "Send the cavalry. Find her. Reason, you need a reason? Well, arrest her for possession. She will probably have some grams with her anyway. Also bring in whomever she's driving with. I need to know that guy. Maybe he's a suspect in a murder case. He might drive a high end vehicle, probably a Porsche Cayenne, Arizona licence plate is LKY BSTRD."

His gut feeling didn't stop screaming at him and he just could hope that he was proven wrong. In short words Jim told Sara about the unpleasant conversation he had with his daughter.

Grissom kept watching the familiar if not intimate conversation Brass had with Sara and her leaning close to him_. It's not that I start worrying about me getting suspicious regarding the relationship Jim and Sara might have. _He thought_. Jim and Sara? Not possible or is it? I think I'm getting paranoid here._ _Jim actually looked very concerned if not sad. It must be something private, as Sara had mentioned. Could it be his daughter in difficulties, again?_

"Dammit!" Angry Sam shook her head. "I so can't believe it. I thought I had been close." She looked at Grissom. "I'm sorry I failed, Gil. And you have been right. Profiling has been proven useless. Happy now?"

"What are you thinking, Sam." Distracted Gil met her desperate gaze. "This is not a contest, it's a team effort. Everybody does his best to help in the process and actually I quite enjoyed working with you. It was an intriguing experience."

"Yeah, but still we have nothing but slight hints of evidence." Sam scoffed.

"Hey, guys. Think I got something." Nick arrived excited. "I had just an interesting conversation with the general manager of an outsourcing company, called Brainpool. They are subcontractors for an engineering company down in Phoenix. IT consultancy, that kind of stuff. A freelancer matching the profile is working for them, a Robert Stelter. He also does some stuff for the Desert Palms hospital from time to time. Server maintenance, software updates. Two locations two crime scene areas. Guess what else? That Stelter guy also had a deal with a construction company in Page. And Desert Palms is actually expecting him to do a software update tomorrow."

"Do we have a suspect?" Warrick said. "Access to drugs, maybe under the table business at the hospital? And the other location would be definitely an explanation for the traces of metal found in the cars he used."

"It seem that profiling wasn't in vain at all." Catherine said appreciatively. "Sam, you rule. Great job"

"We just have to locate him." Vega reported. "Phoenix PD was at his apartment, he wasn't present. But something was. They found a high cabinet full of guns, rifles all kinds of shooting equipment. All black market stuff."

"No car registered on his name." Brass added. "No surprise here. He just acquired himself a new one on each crime scene. Smart ass." His brows where furrowed. "But I have a hunch. I've let Highway Patrol run a search on the missing Porsche Cayenne from Mike Mander, our latest fake suspect. If Stelter is not travelling side roads, we might get him…" his voice broke for a moment, "we might get him in time. For now that guy is UTL."

"Huh?" Sam and Greg asked at the same time.

"Unable to locate in cop speech. Comes usually with the MIA stuff." Sara explained.

"You gotta be kidding me, right?" Greg said.

"Come on you should know that terminology 'missing in action', Greg. We use it all the time when Grissom is looking for you while you are on a break or take a leak." She grinned, but then got serious with a concerned side-glance to Brass. When their gaze met he saw his eyes were watered. He turned away and left the room without a word.

"What's up with Jim?" Catherine asked.

"Ellie. Brass thinks she might be travelling with our Mystery Man Stelter and normally his gut feeling doesn't betray him." Sara explained in a low voice. "But keep it for yourself, he's afraid if somebody notices he might be withdrawn from he case immediately, ok?"

The team nodded in agreement.

"Evidence confirms that Stelter might be a viable suspect. Police is going to search for a high-end car, as we speak. Well, back to the next case, there's nothing more we can do on this one, for the moment." Grissom said.

"Grissom, how can you be so cold. I mean your friend's daughter's life is probably on the line and you just say move on?" Sara looked at him in disbelief.

"Sara." He said in his usual low voice, which still caused her goose bumps down her back, glancing at her with the deepness of his blue eyes. "I'm just realistic. Our hands are tied. The only thing we know for sure is that the unknown male person's profile and MO confirms that he carjacked the vehicle again from the crime scene. Stelter may or may not be a viable suspect. Just one open question though remains, why didn't he take Warrick's car, why did he just abandon it in the middle of nowhere?"

Warrick looked up, frowning and well aware of the tension between Sara and Grissom. In his best neutral tone he took a guess. "Perhaps he didn't want to be linked to a person working in law enforcement, I mean, look how he treated my badge. He had to be quite angry when he found out about my profession. So he dumped the car, went hitchhiking and found his next victim, or backup perp."

"Yeah, at least this time the car is far to high end to go unnoticed." Nick said.

"Ok, what are we supposed to do no?" Greg wanted to know his eyes expectantly resting on Grissom.

"Well, we have a hell of a backlog. Let's proceed it until uniforms report something new and get back to us." Grissom answered simply.

"Grissom, you can't be serious!" Sara stood up in anger.

"Guys, catch up with you later." Grissom made clear that the team better leave for now. Sara's face was showing rage. Frustrated he shook her head. "Dammit!" She growled and turned to leave.

"Sara. Let's talk for a minute, shall we?" Grissom asked in a dangerous low voice. The others left exchanging glances. Nick looked back to Sara in pity, well knowing that she would get a supervisor's wipe-down. She gave him a slight grin.

"What is it you want to say to me?" Gil leaned in the threshold, his arms crossed he prevented her from getting away.

"Look, Gris. I…I…need to do something, help Jim. It's just that I can't…" Sara stammered.

_Jim, not Brass or the Captain she said. Is it out of concern or is it more? I don't dare to ask. I better not know. _Grissom didn't know what to do about that, as always and did what he was used to do. _Send her away. Be safe. Don't get involved. _Without even realizing what he was doing he stepped closer to her, stood just in front and watched her carefully. Scenting her, indulging himself in her presence for one of these uncounted moments in time they had spent together, trying to read her mind.

"Grissom?" Sara asked.

"Sorry Sara, I was thinking. What is it you were saying?"

"I wanna go with Brass, hit the road and try to find out if things with Ellie are ok. Maybe it's false alarm, but…"

He nodded slowly although not agreeing inwardly. "Good, do that, find Brass. Offer your help. If he is ok with it you go with him. Take care, and make sure you carry, right?" he said.

"Fine." Sara shrugged. She didn't thank Grissom, she wouldn't have done it even without asking for permission, _but Grissom probably knew that,_ she thought.

Gil didn't stop glancing at her.

"Anything else?" She snapped confused by the extended intense gaze they were sharing. Her heart was certainly beating faster, and she was too close to ignore the heat emanating from his body.

"Sara." Just one word. The way he said it made her even once more insecure. _Why does he have to say my name this way? That's so not fair. It is supposed to be over, I am supposed to be over Grissom. Why did I undergo this damned therapy? It was supposed to help me! Fuck._

"What?" She asked bluntly.

"Come back safely. We…I…" Grissom lost his thoughts whenever he wanted to say something important, especially to Sara.

"You're not going to give me that 'the lab needs you' speech, Grissom." Sara said, her voice coarse from sarcasm. "Been there, done that, remember? I won't be alone Jim will be with me. So don't worry. We will be fine."

"Yeah, I guess so." Grissom said, but his words were in vain. Sara had already left the room.

_Will it ever happen that I can do or say something right here?_ He mused when went back to his office.

* * *

"Hey Brass, take me with, will you?" Sara shouted and waved at Brass' Taurus. Jim slammed on the breaks hardly and cursed out of his open window. 

"Sara, dammit, do you have a death wish? One doesn't jump in front of moving cars. Isn't that supposed to be something you ought to learn in school?"

"Can't remember, too long ago." She tried a joke. "Come on, Jim, ease up! I'm going with."

"Grissom ok with that?" Jim asked.

"Sure." Sara nodded.

"Girl, Gil will eat me alive if this turns out to be untrue." Jim sighed.

"Oh, Jim. I probably deserve it. So you don't trust me anymore, huh?" Sara responded in fake disappointment.

Jim took her answer seriously. "Sure I do, Honey. But Grissom, you know, he cares about…"

"I give a damn about who cares. Bad things can happen all the time. You should know best. Neither of you can protect me, that's why I made sure to protect myself. I'm carrying in case you're asking, Brass. So trust me." Sara changed the personal of their conversation into business tone.

Jim gazed at her with his dark eyes. "I trust you with my life, Sara." He said in a hoarse voice.

When she looked at him she read this truth in his eyes and she saw more than she wanted to deal with at the moment.

Slightly confused she cleared her throat. "Let's roll, boy."

They just had entered the I-15 when dispatch reported a 503 Auto theftescalating. It was the missing Porsche Cayenne. Seconds later it was one officer down and a call for an ambulance. The culprit could escape so immediate back up and roadblocks were requested.

"Guess we have our guy." Jim said grimly. "He's not getting away with it." He picked up the microphone to request helicopter backup. "Dammit!" He shouted hitting the wheel. "Copters are out for some VIP protection. We just have to deal with ground backup."

* * *

"What the fuck are you doing?" Ellie asked afraid and angry. First she found it pretty cool when Robert told her that he had stolen the car for a joy ride. She was impressed and even asked if she could drive that wonderful ride, but he wouldn't let her. 

Robert was flirting with her and she felt that this guy was trying his fortune on her. _Well, he's kinda good looking, besides out-aging her quite a bit._ But she didn't care as long as it was fun. All thoughts about his father she put in the back of her head. She didn't want to think about him anymore, she could deal with that later.

Then everything happened so quickly. A roadblock forced them to queue and when the uniform asked for driver licence, Robert simply freaked out. He aimed a 9mm at the approaching officer and shot him right in the face without warning. Than he pulled out turned and left the road. Engulfed in dust clouds the Cayenne speeded in the desert. Police cars following him, reporting location every time he turned and twisted. But the chasing that car with conventional police vehicles was futile. They lost him.

Robert had one hand on the steering wheel. The other held the gun pointed at Ellie. He was seriously thinking of getting rid of her, but this would have spoiled his already tainted fun. He still wanted to have her. Maybe she could be the one to redeem him.

A couple of months ago he caught his girl friend with that guy working in law enforcement down in Phoenix. Alan Holding. That asshole fucked Sharon's brains out and he caught them in the act. She laughed at his face, at his anger. That's when it had started. He tried revenge but he couldn't keep up with the ladies of his choice. He became impotent. Nothing worked out to give him back his sexual strength and manhood. He has tried it on several women of his age, but when he failed to please them they laughed at him. So he approached younger women, girls. It was far easier to impress them. A nice car, some compliments and playing his charm would do the trick. But still he couldn't get go through with it. When they were ready he wasn't. It was their fault, they did everything wrong. So consequently he had to kill them so they wouldn't tell and gossip about it. Then it became so much fun to start playing his games with law enforcement.

Setting up these poor idiots who tried to help him. Most of them quite attractive guys even, probably no issues with pleasing a woman. He got jealous and angry. And made them a part of his bigger plan. He was very professional in setting up the look-alike crime scenes. In the media he followed the cases and laughed at the stupid results of police investigation. He was clever. He was slick. He was talented in that respect.

He entered a small service road. The luxurious car absorbed most of the potholes but he overlooked one big one. The vehicle was still on high speed, when it hit the ditch and overturned several times.

Ellie cried out hysterically "Dad! Oh my god!" then something hit her head and everything went dark.

* * *

Alert Jim Brass followed the police report, he knew where the absconding car was headed and cursed his decision to have taken the Taurus. He left the highway and followed a dirt road into the desert. 

"Got something!" Sara pointed vaguely in southwest direction. "Dust, or smoke even?" Brass accelerated and steered the Taurus through the desert, skidding and sliding, he caught the car every once away back on the road.

"Ever did dirt races, man? You're damn good." Sara made sure once more that her seat belt was fastened and had one hand on the handle and the other on the dashboard for support.

Dusted in clouds they arrived at location. A heavily damaged vehicle was lying on the roof. It was the missing Porsche Cayenne. Brass exited the car, his gun and his telescope stick pulled out within an instant. He swung his stick, lowering it, broke the driver side window and opened the door. He grabbed the obviously unconscious driver, pulled him out of the wreck and looked in the car. There was no second person around. A released sigh left his chest.

Sara followed him angry, her weapon in aiming position. "Don't you wait for backup? Who's lecturing me all the time the careful approach to suspects, huh? Are you out of your mind, Brass?" Sara shouted and checked the area. Something was catching her interest; something red, quivering in the hot desert wind. With a few steps she ran over and began to curse when she identified a lifeless female. Her head was in a blood pool, oozing the sand.

"Brass!" She waved him over. With every step nearer his heart sank. He knew it was Ellie. He fell on his knees besides her, slouching; a deep sob left his throat. He checked her jugular vein in desperate hope to find a pulse. With croaked voice he asked Sara to call for an ambulance and get the first aid kit from the car. There was still life in her. His ultimate purpose was to keep it that way. Sara did as told and the worked quietly with him on Ellie to provide as much help as they could give. Jim whispered several times "Everything is going to be alright, my dear. I love you, Ellie. Come back to me." Sara felt for him.

None of them realized the silent movement behind them and when they did it was too late.


	8. CHAPTER EIGHT

**Disclaimer:** Still not mine, though I'm working on it. 

**A/N:** Beta-ed again by LibraryLady61. I couldn't have done it without you.

**Summary:** None of them realized the silent movement behind them and when they did it was too late.

**Rating:** PG

**Spoilers:** Come on, you know them probably better than I do.

* * *

CHAPTER EIGHT 

Grissom had given out the assignment slips. Catherine gave him an evil glare before she left. He needed to talk to Ecklie about the re-organisation back into swing shift but as for now he was still in charge of the whole crew.

Catherine and Warrick were working in the field on a new case what seemed to be a serial Casino heist. Silently they had driven to the crime scene and processed the evidence shoulder to shoulder. From time to time they exchanged certain looks. Her heart went out to him each time she lost herself in the green pools of his eyes. She always found his eyes were the most attractive part of him. Well, that was of course before she had learned about the rest of him. She knew that the age difference as well as their different life styles would probably make their relationship temporary but as long as it would last, she would be enjoying all of it, all she could get of him.

Warrick read the promise in her eyes. He knew well what this meant and was very much looking forward to end of shift. She was, exciting, experienced, gracious and beautiful. He loved watching her as she moved. She never just walked she kind of danced. He adored her; he even thought he could love her. But it would take some time to find out what they both would want and need. Meanwhile he would seize the moments they would spend together. Time would tell.

_They just decided to give it a try and made the necessary move._ Grissom mused in his office thinking about Catherine and Warrick. He would never understand how they could do it and go on with their lives. But Catherine was a survivor anyway. If life got in the way, she would always find a way to beat it. She was a stand-up. A strong woman. And Warrick, it's not that he was an innocent guy. He has had several affairs with co-workers in the lab. Sometimes he got dumped, sometimes is was the other way round, but it never got in the way of work and he had never to be reprimanded for it.

Nick seemed more decent with his affairs of the heart. He never dated women from the lab. But Grissom watched him leaving together with that blonde profiler from PD, Sam. Nicky actually looked very happy when she waited for him.

Greg actually his kept flirting with every female in the lab. And he had that thing that even shy girls fell for him. He was very open minded to all kinds of beauty on the inside as well as on the outside, he could appreciate and adore the wild flower as well as the wallflower. But there was nothing seriously going on, which Gil was aware of. Except that crush on Sara. That couldn't go unnoticed not even for Grissom. And to his embarrassment he actually felt jealous about Greg, a boy almost half his age. A boy he outranked in every aspect, except when it came to years of age. Grissom sighed. _I've been going around in circles for nearly six years now. What am I supposed to do? Is it too late for me? If I would dare to open my dungeon of a heart to Sara, let her in, would she welcome me or send me to hell for what I have done to her? If I continue keeping her on arm's length, she may decide one day to move on._

He even suspected Jim Brass to try a hit on Sara. _Why would Jim do that?_ Gil asked himself. _How can he even dare? _But also he was well aware that these two people socialized in their private time. _Why did I use this clinical verb for friendship?_ He frowned. They had a special connection based on trust and heart and perhaps even love. _Will I be sidelined by someone who is even older than me? _But he remembered Sara once saying that age, either younger or older, wouldn't matter to her when she was in love._ Was that a hint to Greg, to Jim or to me even? Damn! How am I supposed to understand these messages?_

The ring of his telephone interrupted his musing; he picked up and answered it. While listening to the phone he grabbed his jacket and car keys. He was more than concerned about the message he got. One officer and a CSI down, one person dead and another life in serious condition. "Sara." He whispered his heart was breaking in his chest.

* * *

Robert Stelter felt every bone in his broken body. He could barely move. He noticed that he was lying in the desert sand, his legs terribly twisted, blood everywhere. His vision was blurry. He feared that pain would make him unconscious again. Something hard was torturing his back. With a careful movement he pulled away that thing and bit his tongue to hinder himself from crying out loud. He heard muffled noises in the background, shouting and police cars arriving at high speed. The flashes made him want to vomit. In his good hand he held a gun. All he had to do is pull the trigger to make an end to it all. But he wanted to make sure to take some of the lives around him with. Slowly he targeted the blurry vision of a dark silhouette. His head was spinning, he had to rest. Without giving it a second thought he pulled the trigger several times. From the corner of his eyes he noticed two people crying out surprised and in pain, falling to the ground. Two bullets hit the back of a person, the other was a through and through in the leg and another grazed the head. Robert smiled. That's all he needed to know from the officer's shouting who arrived at the scenes. Then several shots hit him himself and everything went black. 

When Jim realized in the corner of his eyes a gun pointed at them it was already too late. The only thing he could do was to catch the bullets with Ellie's and Sara's names on them. He pushed Sara away and she let out a surprised cry, and then protected Ellie with his body. Ellie wasn't hit by another gunshot, but Sara was. She was down on the ground, her face half covered with dust from the fall. Then he fell down hit from the impact of the bullets.

In his blurry vision he saw police officers shouting, running around, trying to give first aid to them. For him it looked like chaos burst out around him. He wanted to say something to make them stop, make them silent. Jim Brass begged to faint but he was still conscious. The pain was excruciating. He had difficulties in breathing, his chest felt heavy and he had the taste of blood in his mouth. His attempts to come up to his feet or even sit were futile. He coughed and tried to turn around to Ellie and Sara. _Hell, this pain. _He was not sure how long he could bear it. In slow motion he slid over the ground to Sara to hold her hand. On pressing it he got a response. _Thank God, she is still alive;_ he thought when finally he passed out.

When Grissom, Greg and Nick arrived at the scene Gil felt something he haven't felt for a while. Anger, rage, hate even. Gritting his teeth he tried to prevent emotional involvement but this time it hit even him very close home. Sara. Jim.

Nick had tears in his eyes when he watched the EMTs working on Sara. He ran over to ask for her status. It calmed him down a bit that her condition seemed to get stabilized, as she was ready for transport.

Some others still worked on Ellie and they were not sure if she would make it. She seemed to have fallen into a coma.

Greg stood paralysed when he spotted Sara, lying on a gurney. Biting his lip, he looked beseechingly at Gil. He just couldn't deal with it now. "Grissom, I…." He swallowed hard, turned around, vomiting. "Sorry." He apologized, embarrassed.

"Greg," Grissom put a hand on his shoulder. "It's ok, you don't have to process. I can understand that. Have Nick drive you back. I'm going to process the scene by myself." He called for Nick and instructed him to go back with Greg.

"Shall I ask for backup by dayshift?" Nick asked, his face looking blank and petrified, but Grissom simply shook his head.

"NO! I'm going to do this. Somebody has to and I don't want any evidence to be spoiled by incompetent dumb-asses." Gil grabbed his kit and went over to the Porsche. Knowing well that he just couldn't deal with the situation, he didn't even take a second glance at Sara, Ellie or Brass, locked his concerns in the back of his mind and started processing the scene.

Nick stood dumbfounded at the cold-blooded reaction of his superior and mentor. He shook his head in anger and cursed to himself. Taking a deep breath Nick shouted "Gil!" for the first time using Grissom's Christian name. Surprised he turned around and looked at Stokes.

"There is no such thing as a crime scene to investigate. The perp is already dead, we just need a clean up, case closed." Nick said.

Not understanding what Nick was trying to tell him he shrugged. "Someone's gotta process."

"Let a people person speak, Grissom." Nick hold him back by grabbing his shoulder and Grissom straightened. "The scene doesn't need you. Go with Sara. She might need you more than the evidence. I'm going to call for backup and let dayshift proceed with it."

"I simply can't. Why can't just you or Greg go with Sara?" Grissom raised an arm in defensive gesture.

"Gris, we all know why, don't we?" said Nick and earned a glare from Gil.

Frowning he sighed instead "Ok, um, right, I'm going. Thanks, Nick."

Greg and Nick took the Denali back while Grissom entered the ambulance truck and sat besides Sara to hold her hand. For Ellie a helicopter was ordered to get her in a.s.a.p. for surgery.

On the other gurney was Jim Brass. There was an awful lot of blood on his shirt and his chest was bandaged. He looked pale. In a spontaneous gesture Gil grabbed his hand to check if he had a pulse and got startled when Brass suddenly opened his eyes.

"Always knew that you had a thing for me, Gil." Jim said in a croaked voice and grimaced in pain when coughing. But there was still life and humour in his eyes.

"Guess I do, Jim. Glad that you are still with us, my friend." Grissom looked at him seriously and patted the hand of his friend. The ambulance slowly left the scene and Grissom had to buckle up not to land flat on his butt.

"Ellie? Sara?" Jim asked.

"Both unconscious. But they will be fine, Jim. Don't worry." But Gil couldn't hide his concern.

A single tear left Jim's eye. Gil swallowed and just slightly squeezed his friend's hand to let him know that he felt with him. But Brass had already lost consciousness again.

Grissom gently brushed Sara's cheek. Her head was bandaged where the graze hit her. Fortunately the wound was superficial. It was the leg wound that concerned him more. She lost a lot of blood because the bullet hit the femoral artery. "Sara." He whispered, and all of his heart went out to her. But even with her being unconscious the words he always longed to say got stuck on his tongue, glued to his inner turmoil. Maybe it was in fact too late for _him_.

* * *

Several days later… 

Ellie's life was on the line when she came in for surgery but the doctors did a miracle job. She would make it. She had severe internal bleeding, her spleen was ruptured, several broken bones, a concussion and a graze on the head where Stelter missed her while losing control over the vehicle. When she awoke it was Jim Brass already sitting by her side. He caught the bullets but he was lucky, one got deflected by his ribs and missed his heart. The surgeons pulled another one out of his shoulder. But otherwise he was ok, he was the tenacious guy.

When not sitting with Ellie he was visiting Sara. She was healing but the leg wound was infected and she needed to stay another couple of days for observation.

"Hey, Jim. Grissom just left. You missed him." Sara said. She wondered why the detective was already on his feet again although he had caught two bullets with his body. He crossed the room in slow motion. Furrowing her brow he saw that he was still in pain and his facial skin looked grey and he was sweating slightly.

"What did he say?" Jim wanted to know.

"Not much. Meaning the usual stuff. The FBI took over the case, made a big show out of it that they solved the Mystery Man case. Atwater was bathing in media, and Ecklie jumped on the same train. So very much fucking business as usual. Besides he mentioned the case backlog. Wants to have me back soon, in the lab, of course." She said with a cynical undertone.

"That's not, what I anticipated." Brass mused. "What I wanted to know is, if he had _talked_ to you. Said something important, I mean your life was on the line. I rather would have expected some of the, you know, the _I miss you, I want you, maybe I love you_ stuff. It is so obvious that it hurts. Hell, both of you seem to have the talent to blow up about every opportunity to clear up things for you."

"Brass! Stop it. Wouldn't that be too far-fetched? We're talking Grissom here." Sara said angry. "It's not that I wasn't trying." She shrugged.

"Don't tell me you made a hit on Gil, _and he turned you down_?" Brass scoffed.

"Yeah, several times actually." She nodded. "I can proudly tell, that I'm pretty much used to it." Sara sighed.

"How stupid can one be? I know a couple of guys who would jump for joy and then on your bones if you would let them. And the one _you_ want doesn't get it. You both really have a fucked-up non-relationship going on, Sar."

"Let's just not go there, Brass. I said stop it. Please?" Sara raised her hands in a futile gesture. "How's Ellie today?" She said beseechingly in desperately need to change the topic.

"She was awake. We talked." Jim said simply. Sara kept looking at him, anticipating more. "She's fine. Everything will be as it was. Except she hates me even more and now she has a pretty good reason for it." With sad eyes he met her gaze.

"So sorry, Jim. I thought you might be able to fix things." Her brown eyes dark and watered, her heart filled with sympathy for him.

"No, Sara. I screwed things up long time ago." His pale and weathered face frowning in sadness. "Her mother will pick her up in a few days to bring her home. But she's safe now. That's all I need to know."

"Come on over, man. Sit." She patted on the side of her bed. Jim did as asked for and plunged heavily on the hospital bed. "Careful. Still on the hurting side here." Sara gave a groan. She took his hand and so they sat for a while in silence. She knew he had deep emotional wounds from the encounter with Ellie, but his mental healing would begin with the physical healing of Ellie and maybe one day his daughter would figure out what a wonderful man and father he was. A father who was ready to protect his child with his life. Time would tell. That's what Sara said and that's what she meant.

"Nice try, Sara. You're a good gal." Jim sighed and pulled his arms around her with a careful yet not pain free gesture.

"Jim." She said in a warning tone. "I'm not. A girl, I mean."

"Did I miss something? Something went wrong in surgery?" He tried a joke and looked at her quizzically. "I mean I appreciate our friendship. You're a good colleague and a good friend, Sara. That's what I wanted to say."

"Come on, don't go soft on me." She quipped and knocked at his forehead. "Hello, is there still a Jim Brass in there, the grumpy man, the tough detective, the hero who catches the bullets? You switched personalities lately? Sounds like you're pulling a Grissom on me. Don't dare. One is enough, Jim." she deadpanned. "Miss the 'good woman' part in your speech. You know that I _am_ a woman, right?"

His dark blue eyes met her brown orbs when he tentatively stroked a strand of hair out of her face and answered seriously. "Sara, I'm pretty well aware of that fact." Jim let his thumb trail along her cheek, followed the contours of her beautiful lips. She leaned in his gesture and closed her eyes pursing her lips expecting him to take another bold step forward.

Jim cleared his throat. "Sara." And she winced as she figured that it was the exact tone Grissom was using when he didn't know what to say. _Yet another man I've scared away, great job, Sara._ She thought with a sigh.

Yet this man was James Brass and he knew very well how to express himself. The twist was though, that she wouldn't like what he was going to say, she wouldn't like it at all.

"I understand that you are confused, Sara. But we both know that I'm not the one you want." Jim straightened. "I'm not Gil Grissom."

Sara cocked her head caught by surprise. "No newsflash here, I got that part by myself, James Brass." She said acidly. And she looked hurt.

But Jim stopped her getting agitated raising a hand in defence and continued. "Sara, please. Let's just face the fact that I might be some kind of a surrogate to compensate your feelings for another old grumpy guy around."

A sad smile showing on his face. "We are exhausted, physically and mentally. We both certainly need somebody. The question is what we need and who we want and I'm not going to exploit that situation." Jim placed his hand on her shoulders to emphasize his words. "Listen, our lives were in danger. We have been shot, we could have died, Sara. That puts us both on the edge of extraordinary circumstances. Give us a break here. We need to rest and maybe some counselling. What we need is friendship more than everything else to find our way back to normal life. And after a while, if you still…" His voice failed and he ended with a futile gesture, his eyes averting her cold glare.

Sara shook her head in frustration. "Yeah, normal life. Have heard of that. Never been there actually. Why do you guys always think that I cannot act for myself? Think for myself? That you know what I'm feeling? That you have to protect me? Fuck, Brass, A simple 'no' as an answer would have been enough. I can take it. I shovelled a lot of shit lately another pile of it is just a piece of cake for me." Her eyes were watered with tears and she swallowed hard to keep her emotions under control.

"Please Sara, you know that I'm right." Jim growled.

All she did was sitting there frowning at him, with her arms crossed, mimicking a sulking child.

Jim was tired and exhausted and didn't want to argue with her. He had his own hands full dealing with his emotions concerning Ellie and that woman sitting in front of him.

"Now you look like you're a six year old kid, who's going to stick her tongue out at me." Jim said in a sarcastic tone. He closed his eyes and released a big sigh when he got startled upon the unexpected slap in his face.

He looked up, shocked. "Ouch! What was that for?" He rubbed his burning cheek.

Sara still was upset but deadpanned with an evil grin. "Well, that's for not kissing me. I needed an outlet and analysed opportunities. Couldn't punch you, with that gunshot wound in your torso. Couldn't kick you either with you actually sitting on your butt." She shrugged. "So I thought it wouldn't cause too much damage if I used your head instead."

"I admit that I would have rather anticipated that, if I _had_ kissed you, Sara. But glad I could be of service, I guess." Jim Brass said in a low tone caught between anger and amusement. "And that from the woman I put my life on the line for. Hell, what happened to the good ole rule where the heroes get the kiss and the gal? In these days one gets assaulted instead."

"Well, you could have had it the other way round. So blame yourself, Jim Brass." She chuckled.

He felt a bit light-headed when he realized that her Sidle smile was back, she was beaming at him. Relieved he gave her another hug. "That's my Sara. We gonna stick it out, right?"

"Yeah, we always do, don't we?" She whispered in his ear. "You should have kissed me when you had the opportunity. Chances are that you might never get this chance again."

He whispered back in hers. "You'll never know, honey."

They overheard the knock on the door but Jim pulled back slowly from their embrace when Greg and Nick came in for visit. Unsure how to deal with the fact about finding Sara in Jim's arms they waited reluctantly in the threshold smirking at each other. Their eyes where still locked in a serious gaze.

Nick harrumphed to catch their attention. "Hey Brass, you sure that Grissom is ok with sharing Sara?" he joked.

"Grissom? No wait, I thought she loved me?" Greg started playing along.

"Oh, great, now that will be a rat race." Jim Brass deadpanned. "The whole team is in love with you lucky girl, you just have to pick your Mr Right."

"I have to choose?" Sara quipped. "Can't I have'em all?" She gave them the entire famous Sidle smile.

"You're unbelievable, invincible, insatiable!" Greg hugged her exaggerating and kissed her on her cheek. "Will you pick me first, puleeze? I mean, we simply go on from where we stopped in the morgue, when you have been with your hands in my pants." He asked with some puppy dog eyes and a meaningful grin.

Nick and Jim looked at each other dumbstruck. "Sara? Greg? In the morgue? You perverts!" Nick asked confused with a slight undertone of disgust.

"Anything, as long as we don't have to go to your place again, Greg!" She answered mock horror.

"I would to everything for you Sara love. I'm even going to clean up my apartment." Greg grinned back.

"Oh, well, that must be true love indeed." Jim said sarcastically.

Nick brushed her hair interrupting the flirtatious chat. "Yeah, go on with my Greggo. Sorry gal, I'm taken. You can't have me anymore."

"The blonde? Sam, huh?" Sara guessed and Nicky nodded with a big Texan grin. "Yeah, she's everything."

"Oh, Nicky. I'm glad. Must have been love at first sight, huh?" Sara asked.

"Positive." He answered simply.

"So where's Cath and Warrick?" Sara wanted to know.

"They took off. In a manner of speaking. Cath was smart asking Grissom to take over her shift. He made the unforgivable mistake to say yes before knowing that Warrick would also be gone. He's simply stuck with our entire backlog now. Sulking, playing Grissom alone in the lab." Nick chuckled. "He'll never get it. I mean, that sometimes life just gets in the way, right?"

They all laughed and Sara looked round at Nick and Greg and Jim, indulged in the feeling that it was surrounded by people she appreciated, people she loved, in whatever way. Life wasn't too bad actually with the knowledge of having friends, she was even happy under given circumstances.

She couldn't hide her emotions and seriously gazed at Jim, he would understand her best. He winked at her knowingly, took her hand squeezing it a bit and asked in a warm voice "Still be friends?" referring to the rather serious topic they had before Nick and Greg arrived.

"Best friends it be." Sara answered the pressure of his fingers with her own hand. "So far. Let's see what happens." She mouthed only visible for Jim Brass, teasing him once more.

"Hi, buddies." Warrick entered the room, with Catherine in his arm. "Could somebody please enlighten me here? Have a bit of lab gossip for you. Explain the weird context between morgue, Sara, Greg with his pants lowered and something involving his butt?" Warrick asked in a cool voice, and Catherine tried without success to suppress her chuckles.

All eyes were on Sara. She blushed slightly while pretending to be cool. Beet red Greg beseeched her not to tell, Jim looked puzzled, Nick grinned, Cath giggled and Warrick said, "Don't let Grissom _ever_ get intelligence about _that_."

FIN

_Thanks to all who took the time to read my humble attempt to writing. Special thanks to those who actually took some more time to post a review. I really appreciate that. And a big hug goes to Pam, my beta-reader. HUX_


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